


Captain Sora

by Cait_Sidhe



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Acting, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angry Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anti-Form Sora, Canon Universe, Coming Out, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Game: Kingdom Hearts III, Guns, Love Confessions, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Mental Instability, Mysterious Tower (Kingdom Hearts), Not Canon Compliant - Kingdom Hearts III, Pirate Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Pirates, Protective Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Rage-form Sora, Swords, Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, emotionally unstable sora, taken captive, the caribbean (kingdom hearts)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:08:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24360349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cait_Sidhe/pseuds/Cait_Sidhe
Summary: When Sora goes missing in the Caribbean, and his friends go looking for him, Sora finds them first—but instead of the warm welcome they expected, to their total disbelief Sora orders them captured and the entire crew of the Royal Navy ship that had helped them be eliminated. What has happened to Sora?
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 39





	1. Captured

**Author's Note:**

> This technically takes place during KHIII, but implies they go to the Caribbean near the start of their journey instead of the end, so it has all the keybladers available and Jack is nowhere around.
> 
> There are a few parts to this. The first half is actually in the Caribbean, where things happen without knowing much of what Sora's been though, but the remainder is in the Mysterious Tower where things are discussed, Sora explains his perspective, and the existence of rage-form is discovered. And Riku comforting Sora a bit at the end.
> 
> I'm debating whether to tag Sora as out-of-character or not. He kinda acts so here, but kinda doesn't. We all know he likes hiding his emotions, and rage form exists and whatnot, so this explores that inner darkness and feelings a little, revealing an instability he's been hiding, but I tried to keep him as sora-esque as possible while still doing that.
> 
> I'm also not sure whether or not to add the graphic violence tag. It's implied and mentioned, but there's not really detailed descriptions anywhere. Let me know if you think I should add it.

Riku sighed, eyes trained upon the aquamarine sea that was so similar, yet also so different, when compared to that of the islands he’d grown up on. It churned with a slight turbulence, but instead of the familiar clear blue it was tinged with grey and dotted with occasional green patches amongst the shallower sections of saltwater, probably due to some type of algae or seaweed. Yet, it still was beautiful. Riku felt a wave of nostalgia for his own sea, where he, Kairi, and Sora would sit on their strangely-twisted paopu tree, looking out at the sea for hours on end, either chatting blithely about anything and everything or simply enjoying the quiet calm of each others’ company. Unfortunately, they hadn’t had that luxury in quite some time, even though they all yearned for it. In fact, they'd only rarely been together, just the three of them alone, in the past few years.

However, the reason Riku currently stared at the sea was nowhere near as pleasant as the nostalgia wanted it to be. It had now been two months since Donald and Goofy had returned from a world called The Carribean, Sora nowhere in sight. They had tried to search for Sora on their own, but despite their searching, this world was simply way too big compared to every other one they’d visited, so after a few weeks had passed with zero progress the two requested help from the other keyblade wielders—namely, Kairi, Riku, and Lea/Axel. Mickey and Yen Sid initially only wanted Kairi and Lea to go with Donald and Goofy to look, but Riku insisted on going too, going as far as to threaten resigning his role as a willing guardian of light if they tried to stop him.

According to Donald and Goofy, Sora had vanished during a particularly difficult encounter with another pirate ship, of which turned out to be actual pirates instead of the heartless-filled ships they had previously fought. Morally unable to fight a whole crew of humans, the three had been captured. They had attempted to escape during a stop at a port, but then had been noticed; amongst the fray Donald and Goofy had managed to slip off the ship and into the business of the docks, but when they turned to find Sora, he wasn’t there. He hadn’t made it in time. The two tried to get back to rescue Sora, but the ship had already set sail, too far away to try to jump on.

Riku had nearly let his anger get the best of him when he heard, especially since the duck and dog had hidden Sora’s disappearance for weeks before saying anything, but Kairi had been able to calm him down, just like she always had when he and Sora would fight as children. Riku was immensely relieved that that hadn’t changed, as he had truly been about to strangle the duck—although, that really wasn’t much different than their usual interactions. Saying that Donald and Riku didn’t get along well was an understatement.

Initially, everyone had split up to search. Not only did they look for Sora, but they were also on the lookout for a pirate whom Sora, Donald, and Goofy knew from a previous journey there, Jack, who might be able to help them find Sora; unfortunately, he hadn’t been found yet either. They had mostly been riding on various merchant ships under the guise of temp workers in hopes of spotting the ship that had taken Sora, but that had come up fruitless as well.

But luck turned in their favor when, as they rendezvoused with each other and were asking around a port for any info, Kairi encountered the captain of a Royal Navy ship that had been tasked with hunting pirates—by some miracle, she convinced the captain (who had apparently encountered keyblade wielders in the past) to allow the five to tag along in hopes of finding and rescuing their friend. Apparently, heartless and nobodies had been spotted here and there, so the captain felt keyblade wielders aboard would be a welcomed asset anyway, regardless of reason. 

Riku snapped out of his reverie when he heard a shout from above—the lookout in the crow’s nest towering above him had spotted a ship. A highly suspicious ship, at that, considering the flag waving proudly in the wind was black with a white symbol; as it came into focus, Riku noted with alarm that the symbol was none other than the warped-heart one that the nobodies used. True to its mission, the Royal Navy ship moved towards it, almost close enough to fire…

Then the heartless and nobodies appeared. Most of the crew fled to the deck's outskirts as Kairi, Axel, Riku, Donald, and Goofy fought the onslaught. Cannons shot out from both vessels, but nothing hit the opposing ship despite plenty hitting theirs. Barrier magic? Riku grew nervous, a strange feeling washing over him, a tugging on his heart that he couldn’t quite place. Something was Wrong about all this, capital W intended.

Suddenly, boards crossed between the two ships, and pirates began swarming onto the Navy vessel. From Donald and Goofy’s looks, Riku could tell that this was a highly unexpected occurrence. The Navy crew drew their swords to fight, but soon were pushed back—unlike the pirate crew, the Navy did not have heartless and nobodies to aid them in fighting, nor were they prepared for the unprecedented occurrence.

Soon, all the Navy ship’s crew but the three keyblade wielders and their two supports had been subdued, whether unconscious (at least, Riku hoped that was all they were), tied up, or held down. Comparatively, the pirate crew had suffered minimal losses. The pentet stood in the center, surrounded by nobodies and heartless, still trying to attack. Riku glanced towards the opposing ship, then did a double-take, and froze.

“Riku, you’re leaving yourself open!” Kairi complained, hopping over to block a heartless’s attack before it could connect with his head. Riku didn’t react to her.

“Sora?!” Riku called, staring at his friend, who had appeared standing on the railing of the opposing ship, staring at them with a frown. In any other circumstance, Riku would be gaping at his friend’s appearance in awe rather than shock—Riku didn’t think he could ever look that good in comparison. Sora was dressed in an open-style waistcoat made of a greenish material over a white shirt and red button-down vest, with knee-high leather boots over tight black pants. A black cavalier hat, fluffy feather adornment dyed maroon, sat atop Sora’s head. Various earrings and bracelets sparkled in the sun, mostly gold, and on one side of his waist was a highly detailed, gemmed scabbard with a silver hilt of a sword poking out, the other hip similarly adorned with a pistol and its elegant holster. In his hand was something extremely surprising—a cigar, which Sora casually withdrew from his mouth, puffing a bit of smoke out before he spoke.

“STOP,” the brunette forcefully called.

The heartless and nobodies stopped.

Riku couldn’t have been more confused.

Sora leapt onto the Navy ship, followed by some other crew members who could only be higher-up in the chain of command, from the looks of their dress, which was just as decadent as Sora’s—they looked like downright royalty compared to the crew who had fought, who had been in the generic tight crew outfits with bandanas holding their hair back. Sora walked right past his friends, still smoking the cigar, glancing at the shocked pentet quickly with a worried expression briefly flashing across his face but otherwise saying nothing. Kairi went to say something, but Riku signaled to her to be quiet; something told him that talking was not the best idea right now, especially as more of the crew now surrounded them, swords pointed at the group. They all lowered their weapons, realizing fighting was not the best idea right now, and compiled when they were forced down to their knees.

“Orders, Captain Sora?” asked a large highly-scarred man who followed all the pirate stereotypes, including an eyepatch and peg-leg.

“One moment.” Sora, whose hands were clasped behind his back and had on a carefully steeled expression, turned to Riku, walking over to him. Sora roughly grabbed his chin, tilting the silverette’s head up; Riku’s instincts said to flinch away, but he forced himself to remain still. None of the others moved, either. Sora made a show of looking him over, though his face now betrayed his worry. “Is there anyone else I know aboard this ship?” he whispered to Riku, nearly inaudibly. Riku shook his head slightly.

Sora gave a curt nod, barely noticeable. Then, his eyes harded again as he turned towards the man who had requested orders. Sora smirked, putting a hand on his waist. “What do you think?” he asked the man, an edge in his voice indicating he wasn’t actually asking for an opinion, rather giving an order. “Oh, except, capture this group here,” Sora added as an aside, waiving casually towards Riku and his friends, as though they were of little importance.

Another official-looking crew member looked at Sora in confusion. “Capture them? Sir, you’ve never taken captives before.” Riku inwardly sighed in relief. Sora probably planned to raid the ship, then let the crew go. He was too kind for anything else.

“Are you questioning my orders again?” Sora snapped, eyes hard and voice low, pointing a silver sabre towards the man’s face; Riku hadn’t even seen him draw it.

The pirate visibly gulped, his hand darting to cover a recently-healed scar on his cheek. “N-no, sir!” Then he turned towards the crew, yelling out the orders. “You heard the Captain! Capture these five, and eliminate the rest, taking whatever supplies you can!”

Riku gasped, his prior relief instantly becoming complete horror as he turned away from the scene of the crew of the ship that had so gladly welcomed them being ruthlessly murdered—on Sora’s order. His mind was blank. How was this happening? Was this some sort of cruel dream? This was Sora they were talking about! Sora would never order a total massacre like this, yet Riku had just watched him do so! As the group was led onto his friend’s ship, Riku tried to catch Sora’s eye, to no avail. Sora abruptly turned on his heel, resolutely walking down one of the planks and disappearing to somewhere on the ship.

None of the group spoke as their hands were tied with rope behind their backs and the pirates violently pushed and pulled them onto the ship, most likely heading towards the brig. They’d have gladly gone quietly, but apparently the pirates took too much joy in pushing them around to even consider that.

Riku, Kairi, Axel, Donald, and Goofy were shoved into a dark, dusty cell which had clearly not been designed to hold five people, but apparently that was the only available cell the ship had—the other cells were being used as storage, highlighting the fact that these pirates hardly ever took prisoners. The pirates locked the cell and left, leaving their wrists tied.

No one spoke for a while, still processing the events of only minutes prior.

“Well, this sucks,” Axel said, breaking the silence.

Kairi shook her head. “That… that can’t be Sora, can it?” she said, voice strained.

Goofy and Donald echoed words of agreement, but Riku stayed silent. That had been Sora. Riku knew his best friend; he had a connection to him stronger than anyone else there, forged by their link. Riku would know if he were possessed or an imitation. No, that had certainly been the real Sora. So what had happened? Something else must have been going on.

“Riku?” Kairi asked, noting his silence.

Riku gave a start, snapping out of his thoughts. “We need more information about what happened,” he concluded.

Axel raised an eyebrow. “Um. What more info do we need? Sora raided the ship we were on, massacred the crew, and had us locked in a cell. That’s a pretty clear chain of events.”

Riku shook his head. “No. There must be more to it than that. I know Sora. He would never do such a thing, not willingly.”

“Yeah!” Donald and Goofy agreed.

“Maybe he was trying to protect us,” Kairi reasoned, clearly grasping at straws.

Axel scoffed. “Look, I know you’re important to him, and I’m sure he would kill for you—actually, technically he has—but pretty sure the line stops at mass murder. Right, Riku? ...Riku?”

“I don’t know…” Riku mused. Did Sora have a line? He was suddenly reminded of a documentary he watched of serial killers, where it said that in many cases their friends and family have absolutely no idea they could ever do such a thing, until they do. Riku shook his head, ashamed he had even thought that; that simply wasn’t Sora. He’d been in Sora’s heart before. Sora would never do such a thing without a reason. Although, that reason could be protecting them… but, no, that couldn’t be the only thing… “He said ‘the usual’,” Riku pointed out quietly.

A silence settled through the cell as that sank in. Sora had done this before, enough times to establish a pattern.

“We should work on escaping first, don’tcha think?” Goofy suggested after a bit.

“Already working on it.” Axel grinned, holding up the ropes from his wrist, now charred. Kairi, also freed from the bindings, was rolling her wrists out, using a small cure spell on the burn. Riku then pointed out that it was probably safer for the two to just unknot the others’ bindings instead of Axel burning them all.

“Now what?” Donald warbled, once they were free of the ropes. “We’re still locked in.”

Axel summoned his keyblade. “Isn’t that what these are for?”

“Wouldn’t recommend that,” said a sullen voice outside their cell.

“Sora!” the group yelled, faces full of relief and confusion.

Sora sighed. “Yeah, it’s me. Sorry about…” he waved his hand. “Y’know. All that stuff.”

Riku glared at Sora. “Yeah, mind explaining? From the looks of it, you just had about fifty people murdered!”

Sora cringed. “Ah, yeah, that’s… I mean, technically it wasn’t me, per se, it was the others…”

“You gave the order!” Donald shouted.

“Hey, shh, shh, they’ll hear you!” Sora said, waving his hands downwards to emphasize lowering volume, his eyes wild in panic. “If they know I’m here…”

Riku crossed his arms, a deep frown on his face. “I thought you were Captain?”

“Well, yeah, technically, but I’m still only fifteen!”

“Sixteen,” Riku corrected automatically.

Sora huffed. “Whatever. Anyway, I’m more or less, what’s the term, a figurehead? Like, I have power, yeah, but it’s not absolute. I only got the position by accidentally killing the original Captain; if I’m not just as ruthless, they’ll easily try that on me! And I can’t just step down, because you don’t leave this crew unless you’re dead, regardless of position. These guys are totally really bad pirates. I’m already risking things by taking prisoners.”

“Then why didn’t you just escape?” Axel said in disbelief. “You have a keyblade! Use it!”

Sora blushed, awkwardly shifting his feet. “I, er. I accidentally broke it,” he sheepishly admitted, turning away at everyone’s surprised stares.

“How?” Riku whispered.

“Well… we had a run-in with a ship run by the Organization, so I fought the Captain of it—Luxord, I think it was?—and during that fight somehow my keyblade broke. But I still defeated him though! I grabbed a nearby gun and shot him, which apparently works on nobodies, so we stole the ship because it’s bigger than the one we had and ours was damaged. But yeah. Couldn’t summon the keyblade after that.” Sora leaned on the wall behind him, arms crossed as he watched his friends’ reactions. His prior confidence had returned.

“So then, who are the heartless and nobodies being commanded by?” Donald asked, temper barely in check. “Is it one of those scarier pirates? Since they stopped when you said so.”

“Oh, right. No, that was me.” 

“What?” Riku hissed. “How…” he shook his head and looked at Sora, barely processing what his best friend had just said, only managing another “What?”

Sora shrugged. “Yeah, they kinda just came with the ship I guess.”

“Maybe you should tell us the whole story?” Kairi suggested.

Sora winced. “Yeah, I know. Maybe later though? Kinda really don’t want to be here anymore. Like, being a pirate is awesome, but not when it’s the kind that kills. Which I’m sorry about. Like, I know that’s a super large body count on me. Which isn’t good. Yeah. So I’d rather not make it that much bigger.”

“You’re rambling,” Riku pointed out. Sora did that when he was nervous. “And we are definitely talking about that ‘body count’ comment later. But you’re right, now’s not the time… so, for the escape—any idea?”

“Oh, that’s easy. We can sink the ship. With Donald’s magic, we’ll survive that, but they won’t.”

“Sora!”

“...Right, no more killing. Sorry.”


	2. The Escape

“Still think it would be easier to sink the ship.”

“Sora!” Riku hissed.

“What? ‘Dead men tell no tales’, or so the saying goes.”

“That isn’t something to joke about!”

Sora stuck his tongue out at Riku. “Who said I was joking?”

Riku made an annoyed grunt.

Sora rolled his eyes and sighed. “Whatever. Ugh, where’s a cigar when you need one?”

“Okay, we are definitely having a talk about that, too.”

“Will you two stop flirting?” Axel whispered, eliciting a slight blush from both Riku and Sora. “Or do I need to remind you we’re trying to be stealthy!”

“I don’t actually need to be,” Sora pointed out. “I’m the Captain. If they find me down here, I can just say… hmm. I could say I was trying to get another keyblade out of you all or something. And then borrow Riku’s to ‘prove’ that.” Sora grinned. “That would definitely win me some more respect around here!” Sora made a mock-thoughtful expression. “Hmm. You know what, maybe I should do that.” He summoned Riku’s keyblade, grinning wider and eyes brightening. Acting like they weren’t trying to escape a ship run by killer pirates..

Riku sighed as he summoned his keyblade back, noting the surprise on everyone else. Apparently, they hadn’t known that Riku and Sora’s link allowed them to do such when nearby each other. “Can we just get this all over with? We have a plan now, however unappealing it is.”

“Right. Be back soon,” Sora said. “Oh, and I actually am gonna do the keyblade thing, too, by the way.” He summoned Riku’s and walked away.

Riku sighed again. “Seriously?”

“So, what do you think the chances are that he’ll return?” Axel said skeptically.

Riku glared at the pyromaniac. “He’ll return.”

“Okay, okay, I was just joking, sheesh!”

“Hey, Riku?” Kairi asked. “From what I’ve been told, a keyblade will only answer to one person. Is that not true?” 

Axel jumped in before Riku could answer. “Yeah, what’s with that? Should I be worried mine will be stolen, too?”

“It’s not stolen,” Riku grumbled. “Just… borrowed.”

“Really? Because that definitely looked like it being stolen.”

“I can summon it back whenever I want. I think.” Riku further explained, “We switched keyblades a few times on our journey. I think it’s unique to us—although, I honestly had no idea that was still possible for us to do, seeing as I got a new keyblade, but, well. Guess it is.” Riku shrugged. Maybe it was a heart thing; Yen Sid had said something to Riku about him and Sora being unusually connected or something, which is why Riku could become his dream eater. He could ponder that later.

*******

“About time you returned!” Axel said loudly. It had been nearly four hours since they had last spoken with Sora.

Sora raised an eyebrow and quickly glanced to the side, while Riku elbowed Axel. A group of five extremely frightening pirates—the same higher-up ones they’d seen when they’d been captured—stood around Sora.

“Can we finally get something to eat?” Axel continued, catching on. “I’m so huuuungryyyy!” he whined.

Sora, who had another cigar to Riku’s chagrin, as well as now wore a wine-red waistcoat as opposed to the greenish one he’d had on before, this time buttoned-up with gold clasps, gave Axel an angry scowl. “Shut up, bitch,” he growled, shocking everyone in the cell. Riku knew Sora had to stay in character, but really?

Axel glared at Sora in return. “Yeah? And if I don—oh. Okay, I’ll shut up.” Axel finished meeky, staring at the keyblade tickling his throat.

Sora withdrew Riku’s keyblade and stuffed what looked like a wad of brown fabric through the bars, letting it fall to the ground. “Put those on,” he demanded.

Kairi picked the pile up and distributed what appeared to be more or less pillowcases with head and arm holes cut out. She stared at Sora, wide-eyed. “Um. Why?”

“Just do it,” Sora snapped, and Riku cringed. He knew the plan, but was it necessary to go to this extent for it?

“In here?” Kairi asked, voice high and cheeks reddening.

Sora slightly cringed, but soon hardened his expression again. “Don’t make me ask twice! Slaves can’t be sold if they’re wearing fancy clothes, so get changing.”

“What! We’re not slaves!” Donald skwaked angrily; Riku didn’t know if the duck was just playing along or was legitimately angry.

Sora sneered. “Sure ya are. You’re not from around here, and not part of any official party—basically, no one would ever look for you. And you’ll sell for a lot!” he gestured to each of them in turn. “Two strong men for heavy work, two freaks for the circus, and a young lass for”— Sora faltered slightly—“pleasuring the men. Yes, you’ll net us quite a pretty penny, won’t they, boys!” He turned to the other pirates, grinning slyly, and they laughed.

“Sure ya don’t want to keep the lass, Captain?” one of the larger pirates asked. “Looks like she could be a lot of fun.” He leered at Kairi creepily, and she slunk back a bit, clearly uncomfortable. Riku bit his lip nervously, not liking the direction of the conversation at all.

Sora turned towards Kairi, away from the pirates, pretending to think about it. He briefly gave Kairi an apologetic look; with difficulty, he kept his voice stable, waved a hand, then said with careful nonchalance as he turned back to face the pirates, “Nah, she’s young, so will go for quite a bit more than most. We can use the money for something cheaper, more profitable that way.”

A lanky pirate with a gold tooth and two others missing grinned at that. “Well then, maybe we could all have a go around, first?”

“We’re already at port!” Sora snapped. “Besides, she’ll sell more if she’s unspoiled,” he said quieter, winking slyly at the crew member, which seemed to satisfy the man. Then he turned towards the group in the cell, raising his voice once again to snap at them, “I told you to put those on! Do it now, or you’ll be forced into them!”

“Can’t we at least get a room or something? For some privacy?” Kairi asked nervously.

Sora bit his lip, eyes still hard but looking like he was trying to blink back tears, though only Riku would notice such a thing on Sora. Clearly he didn’t like what he was doing and saying at all, which was a relief to Riku—not that Riku didn’t believe in Sora, but Sora could be quite the convincing actor when he wanted to be. Thankfully, Sora didn’t have to say what they all knew would be the answer, as a few of the other pirates began laughing.

“Why, lass, no need to be modest,” one cooed through laughter. “After all, whoever buys ya will be doing so much more than just looking…”

Kairi visibly paled at that. “Hey, remember, it’s not real,” Riku whispered in her ear, and Kairi nodded. “We’ll stand in front of you.” The group moved so Kairi was in the back, hidden from the pirates’ leers while Sora tried to look away without the pirates realizing he was doing so.

“Aww, how sweet,” a different pirate mocked. “They’re shielding her.”

“Wanting to preserve her last minute of modesty,” another joined in.

Kairi stepped out from behind the others, dressed in what had turned out to be a burlap sack, kept in place by a rope tied at the waist.

“Well? Four more of ya still gotta change,” Sora pointed out. “Hurry it up, or we really will help you with it!”

The four males quickly removed all but their undergarments and put the sacks on too, Kairi doing her best to look away from them. Riku noticed Sora looked slightly uncomfortable too, also looking away and blushing slightly.

One of the pirates noticed too, and grinned. “Aw, Captain, is that why yeh don’t want the lass? Got a likin’ fer the lads instead?” he teased.

Before anyone could see him move, Sora was facing the pirate, his saber pressing into the man’s throat. “And if I do?” Sora growled, eyes narrowed.

The man lifted his arms in surrender, eyes wide. “Okay, okay, sheesh, no need to get yer hackles raised. We ain’t the Navy, yeh know. Half of us here like the lads.” Riku remembered something he’d once read about pirate crews typically having a much higher percentage of gay crew members compared to the general population—being such was usually illegal or frowned upon in regular society, whereas pirate culture basically accepted anyone who wanted to be a part of it. If you were openly gay and yearned to sail, living outside the law as a pirate was the only option.

Sora huffed in annoyance, sheathing his saber. “Right. Still not used to that,” he mumbled, still clearly annoyed. 

Riku and the others looked at each other in mild surprise, or in Kairi’s case extreme confusion. Had Sora just indirectly… come out to them? Riku’s head spun with that new information. Did he actually have a chance, then? Riku had liked Sora in a more-than-friends sense for a while, but had never acted on it, as he had always assumed Sora liked Kairi like that. He hadn’t known that Sora liked boys, and Sora was affectionate with Kairi, so it was a logical leap, especially since everyone else seemed to think that too. But thinking back with this new lens of knowledge, maybe Sora’s affection with him hadn’t always been as platonic as Riku had assumed… Riku shook his head. He could think about all this later, when they weren’t about to be sold as slaves.

Sora noticed the group had dressed, and instructed the pirates there to lead the captives to the market, hands bound and tied to each other with a single rope. Riku didn’t know how Sora knew how slaves were transported here, and didn’t really want to know. He had been learning a lot of new and disturbing things about his friend that day, and hoped he wouldn’t learn much more.

The pirates led the group through the ship and down into an extremely shady port. It was twilight, the sun having just fallen below the horizon moments before. The port was not exactly what they’d expected; almost no one was around, and off in the distance, down a sandy trail, was a large building, high windows illuminated. It looked like a warehouse, more or less. By “market” Riku had assumed it was some sort of open-air bidding type of thing, which apparently Sora had too from his expression.

“Ah, ye have never been to the pirate market before, have ye?” One of the pirates said to Sora. The same five that retrieved them had left with them, with the rest of the crew left on the ship. “It’s not like the ones in port, where you have to do everything yourself. This is an intermediary; they buy what we have, and then they go off and sell them. It’s more discreet this way, and much simpler. Also, less chance of getting caught by the Navy. They trade in other things too, not just slaves. Most pirates use this place.”

Sora nodded. “Makes sense.”

Somehow, Sora seemed calm, but Riku had grown extremely nervous; so much for riling the crowd and slipping away unseen.

“Don’t worry, I have a backup plan,” Sora whispered in Riku’s ear, while the pirates weren’t looking.

They had barely left the docks when a large explosion sounded behind them. As the pirates turned to look in shock as their ship went down, Sora knocked one over the head with the hilt of his saber; the others took the hint, pulling out of the ropes (Sora had loosened them earlier) and attacking with their various weapons.

“Head to the ship over there!” Sora called, gesturing to a much smaller ship, painted black.

“Wait, are we stealing it?!” Riku said in disbelief while he fought the largest pirate.

“Got any other ideas?” Sora called, driving his saber through the final pirate—the one who had just explained the market to Sora—and Riku watched in horror as the pirate fell, a pool of blood quickly forming under him. Previously, the only humanoid things they’d “killed” had been nobodies, who simply dissolved into darkness when defeated; Riku felt like he was going to vomit.

“Come on, let’s go!” Sora called, grabbing Riku’s wrist and running towards the smaller ship, the other members of their party following and looking equally as shocked as Riku. Sora turned to look back, and swore. Riku turned too, seeing one of the pirates getting up. Sora pulled out a pistol, and lifted it towards the pirate.

“What the hell, Sora!” Riku called, pushing the gun away before Sora could shoot it. The pirate glared at the group, but didn’t follow, opting to check on his fallen comrade. Sora scowled and holstered the gun.

The smaller ship had two people guarding it, who looked fairly nervous as the group ran up to them. “Sorry,” Riku apologized, as he knocked one out with a light blow to the head with his keyblade. Then he grabbed Sora’s wrist—he was about to stab this man, too, who was completely innocent!—and hit that man with his keyblade too.

The group rushed into the ship; they found a few other people hiding in the ship, all either servants or the more submissive roles like the chef, and shuffled them out of the ship before taking off. Looking back, Riku saw the pirates from Sora’s now-sunken ship starting to get up, one of them staring in horror at their definitely-dead shipmate and the others towards the point where the last splinters of their ship were sinking into the sea.

“Now what?” Donald quacked, once the port had become a blip on the horizon and they all had pilfered mismatched clothing from the ship, all glad to be out of the sacks.

“Well, we need to find the Gummiship,” Goofy said. He was teaching Kairi how to sail the ship; Sora seemed annoyed at that, but gave in with a glare from Donald.

Riku went to the bow, where Sora sat along the railing right at the furthest point, hunched over and fiddling with his hat, which was now in his lap. Luckily there wasn’t any sort of beam there, or he could guarantee Sora would be standing on it. He didn’t bother being sneaky, as Sora could almost always tell when Riku approached.

Riku stood behind Sora with his arms crossed. “We need to talk.”

Sora turned around, removing a cigar from his mouth. “I know.”

Riku frowned harder. “Where did you even get that?” he said, voice annoyed and angry, knocking the cigar out of Sora’s hand. It tumbled into the water.

“Hey!” Sora complained. He pouted, and pulled another cigar from his pocket, lighting it with a small fire spell. 

Riku knocked it away too. “How many more do you have?”

Sora sighed. “That was the last one,” he admitted.

Riku raised an eyebrow.

“I’m serious!”

The two were silent for a while; Riku stayed where he was, and Sora slouched over again and looked out at the water.

“I really messed up, didn’t I?” Sora eventually mumbled.

Riku sighed, uncrossing his arms, anger fading. “Yeah, you did,” he replied, knowing Sora needed honesty right now, not coddling. Riku moved so he was against Sora and wrapped his arms around the boy; he was about Riku’s height when sitting on the bow’s railing, which came up to Riku’s waist. Sora leaned into the embrace.

“I guess you want an explanation for everything?”

“Well, yeah, but that can wait until we get back to Yen Sid’s.”

Riku could feel Sora cringe as he said, “Do we have to go there?”

Riku nodded. “Yeah. You know you can’t easily get out of this, Sora,” he sighed. “Not even with your best puppy-dog eyes,” he added, as Sora turned around with his face arranged into the pleading look that always made Riku weak-kneed. Sora knew Riku was weak to that look, and often tried to manipulate him with it.

Sora turned around again, and they were quiet again for a bit. Riku then noticed a few soft sniffles, and moved his hands up to Sora’s face, wiping away the tears sliding down his cheeks. Sora brought his hands up to hold Riku’s.

“Hey,” Riku said softly, kissing the top of Sora’s head and moving his arms to again wrap around Sora, though Sora didn’t let go of his hands. “You’ll be okay.”

“You’re crying too,” Sora pointed out.

Riku blinked, then realized he was in fact crying. He squeezed Sora tightly. “Yeah.”

“Why?”

“I… I was just so scared, Sora,” Riku said quietly. “You were missing for three months. Then when we finally found you, you were acting like some brutal pirate…” Riku shook his head. “I thought I’d lost you,” he whispered.

“Well, you found me,” Sora said, trying to smile through the now-silent tears as he turned to look at Riku, at least as much as he could with Riku still clutching him like he’d vanish at any moment. Riku refused to let go; he had lost Sora too many times. One of his biggest fears was losing him again.

Then, Sora kissed Riku. Or rather, tried to. He seemed to have been aiming for Riku’s lips, but instead only caught the side of them and knocked his nose into Riku’s. “Oww.” Sora said, briefly rubbing the bridge of his nose with his hand.

Riku chuckled, then leaned in to properly kiss Sora, just a chaste press of their lips, lasting but a few seconds. Sora hummed slightly as they moved away, but frowned when he saw Riku’s scrunched-up face.

“Sorry,” Riku said quickly. “Maybe next time no cigars beforehand? Or ever.”

Sora laughed. “So there will be a next time?”

Riku grinned. “Oh, there will be many ‘next times’.” He quickly moved in to kiss Sora again, this time lasting slightly longer, though he scrunched his nose again after. “Jeez, how many of those did you smoke today?”

Sora giggled and turned to look out at the sea, once again leaning back against Riku. “Maybe I should do this more often, if I get kisses afterwards,” he joked.

“Sora,” Riku growled in warning.

“I know, I know, shouldn’t joke about that,” Sora said flippantly, waving a hand. Riku rolled his eyes, even though Sora couldn’t see that.

The two were comfortably quiet for a while, happily leaning into each other’s warmth. Riku broke the silence. “Hey, Sora?”

“Mhmm?”

“I’m going on missions with you from now on,” Riku told Sora resolutely. “No negotiation,” he added, seeing Sora open his mouth wide to argue.

Sora pouted instead. “I don’t need a babysitter,” he mumbled.

Riku sighed. “It’s not a babysitter. I’m just… well, I’m worried about you. But it’s more than that, too. We’re never on missions together, and I miss you. I really do.”

Sora leaned back, grinning. “Aww. Who’s the sap, now?”

Riku grinned too. “Still you.”

Sora moved to playfully hit Riku, but his arms were still locked by Riku’s arms. So he stuck his tongue out instead.

“Oh, real mature, Sora.”

“Mhmm.” Sora hummed, looking at the horizon again. “I miss you, too, Riku,” he said gently, then frowned. “Er. How did you get Yen Sid to agree to you following me around? I thought he had you doing important Master things.”

Riku cringed. “Ummm.”

“He doesn’t know, does he?” Sora turned to look at Riku smugly.

“No. No he does not.”

“We can just not tell him?” Sora suggested.

“Something tells me that won’t go over well,” Riku said flatly.

Sora thought for a moment. “Then let’s not go back to him at all! We can run away!”

Riku chuckled. “If we did, he’d send literally everyone he could to go looking for us. Might even join in himself.”

Sora laughed. “That’ll be the day. I think he’s glued to the tower or something.”


	3. Explanations

Sora hovered at the entrance to Yen Sid’s office, reluctant to enter; once everyone else had filed in, Riku basically had to push the brunette in.

Sora shook Riku off and donned a false air of confidence. “So, I’m going to need a new keyblade,” he announced immediately upon entering the circular room. 

Yen Sid merely raised an eyebrow. “And why is that?”

“Cuz I broke mine, of course.”

A high-pitched voice from low to the floor replied. “Oh, gosh, how did that happen?” King Mickey asked, extremely surprised. Upon hearing their rescue of Sora had been successful, Mickey had immediately headed to the tower.

“I fought off an Organization dude. On my own. It was quite the epic battle, you should have seen it!”

“Sora,” Donald grumbled, tapping his foot. “Tell the truth.”

“That IS the truth! I broke it while fighting him!”

Yen Sid nodded slightly. “I see. If you broke your blade battling him, how did you escape? Do you know where he went?”

Sora’s confidence faltered slightly, but he quickly recovered. Riku wasn’t sure if anyone but him noticed that Sora’s current demeanor was all an act. “He went nowhere. I beat him!” Sora crossed his arms and nodded resolutely.

Yen Sid frowned slightly, possibly in confusion but as usual it was hard to tell. “Without your keyblade? How?”

“Shot him,” Sora said proudly. “Apparently you don’t need keyblades to kill Organization people. But I’ll still need one to fight heartless! Can’t kill them with this after all.” Sora drew his saber and waved it around a bit. 

“Give me that!” Riku hissed, grabbing it from Sora. Somehow no one had noticed Sora had kept the weapon despite the scabbard having been quite obviously displayed. “You’re going to hurt someone, waving it around like that!”

Sora grinned, a mischievous glint in his eye. Was he actually having fun now?! “Don’t worry. I know how to handle it, as I demonstrated multiple times.”

“Perhaps we ought to start at the beginning,” Yen Sid suggested calmly, though he cautiously eyed the saber. Riku was certain the elderly wizard had been pretty unnerved at the display despite his attempts to remain stoic; Riku sure would be, and it looked like King Mickey was too. The others barely reacted, used to Sora’s flippancy with the saber by now. However unhinged Sora had become, he wouldn’t be reckless enough with it to hurt his friends. Well, probably.

Riku frowned as he looked more closely at the weapon. “Sora, there’s still blood on this.”

Sora shrugged. “I’ll clean it later.”

“No you won’t!” Donald squawked in outrage. “You are not getting that back! Ever! And you’re not allowed to have any other swords, or daggers, or pistols, or any weapon other than a keyblade for that matter!”

Goofy nodded. “Yes, that sounds like a good rule. Keyblade only.”

“Maybe someone should pat him down or something, to make sure that sword was the only thing he had,” Axel suggested. Riku thought he’d been aiming for teasing, but there had been a note of nervousness there too.

Sora scoffed and crossed his arms again. Riku suddenly realized that yes, Sora probably—no, definitely— did have more weapons on him, especially as he still wore his pirate outfit. Apparently, it had not been an alteration of his magical clothing, as Riku had assumed, rather actual pirate clothes, like the ones they all currently wore. Well, somewhat. Sora’s were still quite fancy compared to the more casual, simpler things the others had chosen, and he somehow had acquired more jewelry than he’d been wearing when they’d escaped. Had he stolen it from the little black ship? Also, just how many times were his ears pierced? Well, regardless, the fairies were going to be outraged that all their carefully-constructed magical clothing had been lost.

Yen Sid’s expression was now quite obviously one of concern and confusion; it appeared as though the elderly sorcerer didn’t know what to say or do in this unusual situation.

Riku sighed. “I know you have more weapons, Sora. Hand them over.” He held his hand out towards Sora, palm-up.

“And how would you know that?” Sora asked, voice barbed.

“Because I can see the pistol holstered to your belt.” Riku was glad Sora had left his coat open enough to see it; otherwise Sora might have tried to spin it into something about Riku not trusting him. Which on this matter he actually didn’t, but he didn’t want an argument about it.

“Fine.” Sora frowned, though willingly handed the pistol over. Riku noted that it was not the same pistol that he had stopped Sora from using on the pirates.

“The other one, too.”

Sora’s eyes widened in surprise. “How’d you—” he quickly changed his look to anger again. Riku had no idea why Sora was still making so much of an effort to seem like his Captain self; maybe it was residual, as he had spent so long acting that way. “Yeah, yeah.” Sora reached into a pocket hidden within his coat and handed Riku the other gun. Riku heard a slight clack of metal as it was withdrawn.

“You know what, just give me the whole coat,” Riku said.

Sora looked away, face scrunched into a scowl, but complied, removing the long coat and handing it to Riku. Under it he wore a simple white shirt with an unbuttoned vibrantly purple vest, the buttons of which appeared to be some sort of gemstone—it looked incredibly expensive, and clearly had been stolen from the black ship, as Sora had escaped with a simple black one. Riku was unsure when Sora had had the opportunity to acquire and change into the vest, seeing as he’d been with Riku almost the entire time aboard that ship. The coat felt heavy, as though there were many things in there, hopefully not all weapons. 

“Check his boots, too,” Axel suggested.

Lo and behold, Sora had been hiding a dagger in his left boot.

“What the hell do you need so many weapons for?” Axel wondered aloud, expressing the sentiment of the room.

“Self-defense?” Sora said questioningly, allowing his tough demeanor to drop slightly. He shrugged and amended when he realized no one believed him for a second, “Look, usually I only carry half of that. The rest were from that ship we stole.”

“You… stole a ship?” Mickey asked incredulously. He looked like he was trying to determine if this all was actually happening or simply a strangely realistic dream.

“Well, yeah, it was the only way we could escape, and they all needed clothing anyway.” Sora gestured to the rest of the group. “Win-win.”

Riku held a hand to his forehead in an attempt to assuage the headache that had begun to form. “Maybe you should start from the beginning, Sora,” he suggested, trying to keep his voice level.

Sora crossed his arms again and looked down. “Fine,” he grumbled.

“And lose the tough-guy act. You’ve got nothing to prove here.”

Sora’s shoulders slumped and he sighed in resignation. “Yeah, okay.” 

“That was an act?!” Axel exclaimed.

Kairi was the one to answer that, with a chuckle. “Thought so… he didn’t land lead roles in all the school plays by looks alone,” she joked.

“Kairi!” Sora protested.

Riku smiled, glad for the change in emotion. “Yup. He could do whatever part was needed, basically. He even played a princess once,” he teased.

Sora blushed in embarrassment. “Riku! Don’t bring that up now!”

“Oh, you know you liked it, Sora.”

Axel shook his head, looking at Sora incredulously. “How the hell did absolutely no one realize you were gay until that pirate said something?”

Sora glared at Axel. “And that’s relevant how?” He reached to his side only to grab empty air, looking towards his hip in momentary surprise. Riku was glad he’d taken the saber away earlier.

“We’re getting off topic,” Mickey pointed out. “Sora, could you please tell us what happened after you were separated from Donald and Goofy?”

Sora sighed again, arms still crossed, then looked at the ceiling. “It’s such a long story though…”

“Well, just start with what happened before we all arrived,” Riku suggested, “and we can explain what happened after. Sound good?”

“I guess.” Sora sighed. “Okay. Well—”

“One moment,” Yen Sid interrupted, his neutral demeanor back in place. He snapped his fingers, and high-backed wooden chairs with variously-colored velvet cushions appeared behind each of them, which proceeded to move forwards to knock them down to sitting. Well, except for Mickey and Donald, who were instead bonked on their heads by the seats before they scrambled onto their chairs. They weren’t the most comfortable chairs, but still better than standing for the entire conversation, Riku figured. The chairs then magically arranged themselves into a semi-circle around Yen-Sid’s desk. The wizard then nodded for Sora to continue, everyone’s attention rapt on the boy.

Sora wiggled in his seat slightly. “Well, you know how Donald and Goofy and I got separated while trying to escape, right? Well, I got captured again. Apparently, Organization XIII had a bounty on me, and the pirates captured us because they wanted to collect on it. So. Things happened, and I ended up becoming Captain, and—”

“Sora,” Yen Sid said firmly, making the brunette flinch. “‘Things happened’ is not a proper explanation.”

Sora crossed his arms and pouted. “Fine. I tried to escape a few more times, but without being able to fully attack them, I just kept getting captured. After a week, I had become super frustrated, so the next time I didn’t hold back, even though they were human, even though I know I should have. I swear I thought I was only hitting hard enough to leave them unconscious. But then, everything went dark for a bit? And then a lot more of them had been defeated, so the Captain himself decided to fight me. I won. Apparently their code is that whoever kills the captain becomes captain. No one challenged it, since apparently I went more overboard than I had thought and in addition to the captain a fair amount of the crew I had fought were… yeah. So then I was named Captain.  
“I was going to immediately leave after that, but was warned that on that ship, no one leaves the crew, at least not alive, even if they are Captain. I didn’t really think much of it, because I have my keyblade, but then a ship appeared next to us, and it was the Organization’s. One of their members, Luxord, was aboard—he was the one who had leveed the bounty, which was why the ship had been meeting with him—so I fought off the heartless and nobodies he summoned, and then Luxord himself opted to fight me, and things went dark again and then my keyblade was broken, and I was on the ground with Luxord about to kill me, so I grabbed a gun that was nearby and shot him. He did the whole vanishing-into-dark-particles thing nobodies do when they die.  
“So now the bounty is void since the guy is dead, the pirates are regarding me as a hero, and they are super on-board with me being Captain even though I just killed their own, which was weird, but okay. We decide to take Luxord’s ship because it’s in better condition and larger. I go to take out the remaining heartless and nobodies, but they aren’t attacking; they’re asking me what to do. Apparently, they just follow whomever is the captain of the ship.  
“So, there you have it, that’s how I became Captain. And then eventually you all found me.”

Yen Sid raised an eyebrow at Sora. “There’s close to a three-month gap between that and when they found you,” he pointed out.

“Yup.”

“Well? What happened during that time?”

“Oh, just regular pirate stuff,” Sora replied.

“Stop dodging the question, Sora!” Donald warbled. 

“But it’s true!”

“So,” Yen Sid said, “You just sat around doing ‘regular pirate stuff’ until they found you? No attempts to escape or anything?”

“I told you, you only leave that crew if you’re dead, and I didn’t have my keyblade. It was either play at Captain until you found me or be killed. The Quartermaster and them made sure I knew that; I’m not even sure how much power I actually had over them. The general crew respected me, but it felt like the ones closer to the top were only toying with me. If I showed any weakness, I’m positive they would have cut me down. Nearly mutinied when I decided to capture everyone. We’re not supposed to leave people al—I mean, take them captive when we plunder ships.”

“Gosh, Sora,” Mickey said. “It almost sounded like you were gonna say you weren’t supposed to leave them alive.”

Everyone who had been there looked away as Sora shuffled nervously in his seat, fiddling his thumbs.

“Oh,” Mickey said in realization.

“Sora?” Yen Sid prodded.

“Yeah, that’s what I was gonna say,” Sora admitted quietly. “We—I mean, they—don’t, not unless there’s some type of major benefit to it. You know, ‘dead men tell no tales’ and whatnot. It’s how we were able to take down so many of the Navy ships without becoming their primary target. If they knew there was a ship like ours about, we’d have had a whole fleet after us.”

“So you were… massacring ships?” Mickey asked in astonishment.

“If you put it that way, technically, yeah… but! It was only like one every other week. And I made sure we didn’t attack any merchant or passage ships, only the Royal Navy ones! The pirates are at war with them anyway, so no different than any other enemy.”

“Except that unlike our other enemies, they were all human,” Riku pointed out.

“So then what should I have done? Say no and be killed myself?” Sora bristled, anger spiking again. “Besides, the Navy ships hunt us down anyway. Instead of running like prey, why not be the predator instead? The encounter will happen eventually anyway. Striking first gives us the advantage of catching them unprepared, which can be the difference between winning and not,” he argued. It was a good point, Riku conceded.

“But if they captured you,” Goofy reasoned, “you’d be safely away from the pirates. Then you could have explained to them what had happened, and everything would have been a-okay!”

Sora scoffed. “Yeah, no. Even if they decided to capture me instead of outright kill me, do you really think they’d actually listen, let alone believe it? The story is a bit far-fetched for most people, you have to admit. Then, I’d have been publicly hung or stoned shortly after getting to port, since I was, you know, the Captain of a ship that hunted them. That’s the law, and they don’t make exceptions. It’s better to be dead than captured by them.”

A silence hovered around the room as everyone processed this. Maybe… maybe Sora actually hadn’t had much of a choice in what happened. Even if he had technically ordered the deaths of probably hundreds of soldiers.

“So, you plundered Navy ships until you were found?” Yen Sid confirmed.

“Yeah. I mean, we did other stuff too, like went to taverns and things—where they kept a close eye on me—but basically, yeah, plundering ships was our primary purpose until everyone found me.”

“You mean, until you found us,” Axel corrected.

Sora shrugged. “Same thing.”

“Yeah, it’s really not. Not when you ‘found’ us by tying us up and sticking us in a cell while your lackeys murdered the entire crew of the ship that helped us before sinking it.”

Sora cringed and slunk down in his seat slightly. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

“Mind explaining for those of us who weren’t there?” Mickey asked.

Sora sighed, and looked over at Riku. “Riku, you explain it now.”

“Me? Why me?”

“You said you would all take over when we got to the point in the story you all showed up.”

Together, the rescue group explained what had happened after they had ‘found’ Sora.

There was a pause once they got to the part when Sora left for a bit after creating the plan. Kairi turned to the brunette, and asked, “What were you doing for so long? You told us the port was just an hour away, but you were gone nearly four.”

Sora blushed sheepishly. “Er. Well, they were in the middle of a poker game, and insisted I play a few rounds, and then I accidentally spilled some rum on myself, so then I had to change… Oh, and I had to prepare some things. You know, for when we escaped.”

“Prepare something?”  
“You were drinking?!”  
“Poker? Really?”  
“You’re underage!”  
“So that’s why you changed!”

“Enough!” Yen Sid said loudly to quiet everyone, who had started speaking all at once, over each other. Then he said in a regular volume, “Let us finish reviewing the events before we discuss them, however disconcerting they may seem.”

So, the explaining continued.


	4. Rage

“...and then, we sailed back to the GummiShip, and headed straight here,” Goofy concluded.

Everyone sat in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes as they awaited Yen Sid’s thoughts on it all. Riku really hoped Sora didn’t get in too much trouble—he knew his friend had already not been doing so well since the Mark of Mastery exam, which he’d been admonished for even though it hadn’t truly been his fault Xehanort foiled it, and this situation seemed slightly similar. Although, the slight bloodlust was new.

“What concerns me the most, Sora,” Yen Sid finally spoke, “is the two points near the beginning where you said things ‘went dark’, first when fighting the pirate captain and then when fighting Luxord. Could you please explain what you meant by that?”

Sora looked surprised, clearly not expecting that line of questioning. “Well, I dunno, I was fighting, and then I guess I must have passed out or something…” Sora frowned. “Except, then they were defeated… Oh! Maybe it was Roxas!” Sora cringed. “Okay, nevermind, he says it wasn't him.”

“You heard Roxas?” Axel said, incredulously.

“Huh? Oh, no, not exactly. But, I can sometimes feel his emotions, and he definitely got angry when I suggested that, so no, it isn’t him.”

“Did anything prompt it?” Yen Sid interjected, bringing them back on topic.

Sora frowned. “No? I was just fighting normally.”

“What about emotions? Or injury?”

“No, I wasn’t injured,” Sora answered. “At least, no more than usual… I was pretty angry though. But that’s common.” Sora shrugged.

“Wak!” Donald said. “What do you mean, anger is common?”

“Yeah, Sora,” Goofy said, “I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen ya angry.”

Sora rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, as was said earlier, I’m a pretty good actor, aren’t I?” His voice had a sharp edge to it.

Riku pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Not helping, Sora.”

“Enough!” Yen Sid said loudly again, silencing them, to continue in a normal voice, “Sora, how often does this type of thing happen? Where you get angry in battle, and then black out.”

Sora frowned, thinking hard. “Hmm. Only when I’m seriously hurt or if the enemy is being really annoying and stuff. And only when I’m fighting alone, like if Donald and Goofy both get knocked out.” That made sense; Donald and Goofy were looking at Sora with complete confusion, obviously having been caught by surprise by this info too.

“And does that happen often?”

“Uh. No? I dunno. Not that often I guess? Can’t exactly remember though.”

“For how long has it been going on?”

“Uh. First time it happened was shortly after I left that pod thing, I think?”

“Hmmm.” Yen Sid stared at nothing as he thought about this.

Riku gasped, remembering something. “Wait! Remember when we were fighting Xemnas, and he randomly got all those lances and the weird armor?”

“Oh!” Donald and Goofy exclaimed, catching on.

“He what?” Sora asked in confusion.

Riku explained. “It was brief, but you were cloaked in darkness for a minute, until I called your name. But it was in the middle of a huge drawn-out battle—seriously, how the hell does one guy have that many forms?—so I guess we all forgot… maybe that was the same thing.”

Sora frowned. “Well, Xemnas makes me pretty angry, so I suppose it’s possible I was angry enough to black out… and I don’t remember that part of the battle at all...”

“What exactly happened?” Yen Sid demanded.

Riku frowned. “Well, as you know, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and I got separated from the King and Kairi, and followed Xemnas into this strange place to fight him. He kept changing his form, and whenever we thought we’d beat him he’d reappear as something else… anyway, this was during one of the very first ones; Xemnas somehow got magical armor and lances, and we all went to attack, and then Sora was suddenly cloaked in darkness.”

“Yeah!” Donald confirmed. “He was fighting on all fours, too!”

“And was really, really fast,” Goofy added.

“Didn’t even use his keyblade.”

“But then I called his name, and Sora returned to normal,” Riku finished.

“And you did not find this concerning?” Yen Sid asked firmly.  
“You didn’t think to tell me that?!” Sora growled at the same time.

Riku cringed; Sora looked pissed, and Yen Sid seemed pretty angry too beneath his veneer of patience. “Well, like I said, it was early in the battle, and then Xemnas attacked immediately after, and it was an extremely long battle, so we kinda forgot.”

“Ya know, it kinda reminded me of a heartless,” Goofy commented.

“But he only attacked Xemnas!” Donald pointed out.

“No, wait, that is a good point,” Riku mused. “Sora did briefly become a heartless, remember? It’s how Roxas was made.”

“So you think it could be a residual effect?” Mickey conjected. 

Yen Sid nodded. “Perhaps. Sora is indeed unusual in that he was able to return to his human form without destroying his nobody. Some of his heartless form may have remained, as well.”

“But his heartless form was a little shadow,” Kairi pointed out.

“Oh!” Goofy exclaimed. “Maybe he’s becoming a new one every time he gets in trouble!”

Axel jumped into the conversation with a laugh. “If that happened, we’d have dozens of Roxases running around. Remember? You can’t have a heartless without a nobody.”

“Oh, right.” 

Donald had an idea next. “Maybe Ienzo can take a look?”

Mickey concurred. “He studied the heartless, after all. I’m sure he’d help us with this.”

Yen Sid nodded. “Yes, that seems wise.”

“A-hyuk! We can leave right in the morning,” Goofy decided. “Bright and early!”

“WILL YOU ALL STOP TALKING ABOUT ME AS IF I’M NOT HERE?!”

Everyone turned to Sora, whose hands were curled into fists at his side, a look of absolute rage on his face; however, it did appear as though he was actively struggling to get the anger under control.

Riku cursed under his breath as a distinct smell of darkness began to waft from Sora. If they weren’t careful, they might just get first-hand experience with the very subject they had been discussing… he glanced around; from the look Axel gave him, the redhead could sense it too, but it seemed everyone else was blissfully unaware of the precipice they were now balanced on.

“Sora,” Riku began, taking control of the situation before anyone said anything that could tip Sora overboard.

“What?” Sora hissed, as he turned to face Riku.

Riku cautiously approached Sora, who looked wary, and slowly put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Hey,” he whispered. “I know you’re mad. It was wrong of us to start deciding things without your input.”

Sora simply eyed Riku, breathing fast.

“So, why don’t we take a moment to calm down, and then we can all discuss it together, sound good?”

“I am calm,” Sora muttered, glaring at Riku.

Riku chuckled. “Really now?”

Sora ground his teeth together and grumbled, looking away.

“Hey. Sora, look at me,” Riku said, moving so both hands were now on Sora’s shoulders. Sora complied, looking directly into Riku’s eyes. Riku noticed that Sora’s irises had begun to… redden? Usually gold was the typical color of heartless, of darkness… Riku mentally shook himself; he couldn’t get distracted. “Good. Now, I want you to close your eyes.” He waited until Sora did so. “Good. Now, I want you to take a deep breath in… good, just like that… now, breathe out…” Riku repeated the “breathe in, breathe out” sequence, Sora following along, until he could no longer sense the darkness; when Sora opened his eyes, they were their usual brilliant sky blue, to Riku’s immense relief.

Tears formed in Sora’s eyes. “I’m sorry!” he burst out, grabbing Riku tightly and burying his head in Riku’s shoulder, trying to hide his sniffling.

When everyone else was sure the situation had been mitigated, Axel whispered to Mickey, “Maybe therapy should be considered as well.” Riku only overheard because he was standing next to them; hopefully Sora’s tears had prevented the brunette from hearing. 

Mickey nodded slightly in response, looking fairly worried. “Maybe you’re right.”

Riku mentally cringed; maybe now was not the time to discuss THAT in addition to visiting Ienzo to have Sora’s heart looked at.

Once Sora was ready to talk again, he agreed with the decision to visit Ienzo, and apologized for what had happened.

Axel shrugged. “Hey, don’t worry so much. You’re not the only one here who has been affected by darkness in some way or another; I’m sure you’ll work through it too.”

“And we’ll help you,” Riku agreed.

Sora smiled. “Thanks, guys.”

After some more discussion, it was determined that for now, visiting Ienzo was priority, and until that was looked at Sora was not to go on any missions or visit worlds with heartless. In other words, no fighting or doing other things that could trigger the pseudo-heartless transformation, or “rage form” as they’d decided to call it. Sora was surprisingly okay with this.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone I know,” the brunette reasoned, although he looked slightly uncomfortable. “Even if that means I can’t fight for now… and, I probably should work on better controlling my emotions, too,” he admitted sheepishly.

Riku wrapped his arm around Sora’s shoulders. “Hey, we’ll work through it, okay? I’ll help you out.” Riku smiled wryly. “After all, I have quite a lot of experience with that, too, as you know.”

Sora chuckled at that, and leaned into Riku. “Thank you.”


	5. Conclusion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couldn't think of a proper title; if I do, I'll add it. For now it'll be titled "conclusion," following the habitual naming scheme of the academic papers I hopefully will never have to write ever again.

“Oh, my!” came a high-pitched voice, and everyone turned to find the three good fairies entering the room… all with matching looks of horror on their faces. The green one, Fauna, had spoken. A brief moment of confusion flickered around the room, then turned into a meek understanding.

“Why, we heard there was an urgent clothing situation,” the red one, Flora, continued, “But to think, you’re all wearing such a mismatch of clothing—and none of it magical!”

The blue one, Merryweather, looked around in wonder. “Why, shockingly, Sora is the only one to have any semblance of fashion!”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Sora retorted with a pout.

“How in the world could this happen?” Fauna wondered, sounding heartbroken.

“There was an incident,” Mickey explained. “And everyone but Sora unfortunately all lost their clothing, then had to quickly find something to wear.”

“But why ever would you choose such a jumble?”

Sora cringed. “Er. There wasn’t much choice; they kinda had to steal it… it was my fault, though, please don’t blame them.”

“Then what about yours?” Merryweather asked, voice curious. “You certainly look good in your current attire, but what of the magical clothing?”

Sora cringed, then muttered something about them being too blood-soaked to wear.

The fairies dropped that line of questioning, clearly not wanting to know the details of that particular comment, instead running to the dressing room, grabbing Kairi on the way.

Everyone rose and began to stretch—they’d been sitting for a while, after all—and to catch up with each other, waiting their turns as the fairies took them to the dressing room one by one to give them new outfits.

When Riku turned to talk to Mickey, Sora slipped past him and over to his coat; he quickly grabbed something out of the pocket before attempting to slink away. It was pretty sneaky; only Riku had noticed, and that was solely because he’d expected Sora to try something like that. When had Sora become such a good thief?

Riku grabbed Sora’s elbow without turning, and the brunette made a small squeak as he nearly tumbled down from the momentum. “Oh no, Sora,” Riku said chidingly. “Don’t think I didn’t notice that. Drop it.”

“Drop what?” Sora asked innocently, hiding his hand and its contents behind his back. 

Riku turned to face Sora, giving him a stern look. Sora withered under the glare; he knew he couldn’t get away from this. Riku didn’t have to say a word before Sora gave in.

“Fine,” he grumbled, dropping the cigars on the ground and pulling his arm away from Riku. 

Riku frowned. “You told me you didn’t have any more,” he accused, hurt that Sora would lie to him so blatantly.

“Well, I didn’t. But the ship we stole had some, so I took those.” Sora shrugged.

RIku sighed, deflating slightly. “Sora…”

Sora crossed his arms and looked away from Riku. “Dunno what the big deal is, anyway. It’s not like I can hurt anyone with them.”

“No, but you can hurt yourself.”

“Yeah, but…”

“Sora,” Mickey said, seeing what had been dropped. “Riku’s right, you shouldn’t have those; they’ll only cause trouble.”

“I know, I know, but, well, um, I, uh, they, well…” Sora scratched at his arm, seemingly unable to articulate what exactly he wanted to say.

Riku caught on. “You’re addicted,” he said flatly.

Sora let out an embarrassed chuckle. “Yeah, maybe.” He looked down and rubbed the back of his head; well, he was ashamed of it, at least.

Riku sighed. “It is what it is.” He put a hand on Sora’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you with it.”

Sora frowned as he looked at Riku. “But, don’t you have Master stuff to do?”

Riku paused for a moment. He did, but… Riku shook his head. “You come first. Always. Besides, didn’t I say on the ship I’d be travelling with you regardless?”

Sora smiled. “Aww, Riku!” He jumped forwards, and Riku suddenly found himself in a bone-crushing hug. “I love you,” he mumbled into Riku’s chest.

Riku blushed, looking around. “Yeah, uh, same, but everyone’s kinda staring now, Sora…”

The door behind them opened, and Kairi emerged from the fairies’ fitting room. She blushed as she approached the two; Sora still hadn’t let go. “Riku, they want you, next,” she said, pulling Sora away from him with some difficulty.

“Don’t let him near the cigars,” Riku whispered to her; he could already see the brunette eyeing them.

Kairi grinned, though it was harsh rather than happy. “Oh, don’t worry, I won’t. I have some things to discuss with him.”

“Wait, you do?” Sora squeaked, in fear this time. Riku felt a little pity for Sora; Kairi was a force of nature when she was angry. 

“Oh, yeah. Quite a few things, starting with those things you said on the ship about—”

“Wait wait wait, I was acting, you know that, right? Just acting! Riku, save me!”

“Riku, dearie,” one of the fairies called. “Please come to the fitting room.”

Kairi playfully grinned at Riku over her shoulder. “Good luck. I think they’re planning to give everyone matching outfits,” she said casually, as she dragged away Sora, who continued frantically trying to escape.

*******

Later that evening, Riku found Sora sitting on one of the tower’s balconies, with his legs between the bars of the short guardrail so he could dangle his feet over the edge, resting his arms and head on the top of it and staring out towards the stars in thought. He jumped slightly when Riku sat next to him to mirror the position.

“Whatcha thinking about?” Riku asked playfully.

Sora sighed. “Everything’s going to be different.”

“What do you mean?”

Sora looked over at Riku, frowning. “Riku, you know what I mean. Everyone sees me completely differently now. They know about the fake smiles, about the rage thing, the darkness… before, they thought of me as this bright light, the one who could always keep people happy…”

“But, you do still keep people happy,” Riku pointed out.

“Maybe, but now they know that I’m not always actually happy, too, when I’m trying to make them happy.”

Riku shrugged. “Hey, that’s life. No one can be happy all the time, and you’re no different. Kairi’s a Princess of Light, yet you’ve been on the receiving end of her anger plenty of times, right? If anyone expects you to be perfectly happy all the time, they’re an idiot.”

Sora sighed. “I feel like I’m the idiot,” he said. “Hiding all my negative emotions probably just made everything worse.” He smiled melancholily. “Guess I was overdue for a breakdown, huh?”

Riku chuckled. “Yeah, probably.”

Sora wiggled over slightly so that his side was pressed fully against Riku’s, and Riku wrapped his arm around the brunette’s waist. The two sat in comfortable silence for a while, just staring at the stars, enjoying each other’s company. 

Sora broke the silence. “Hey, what are we?”

Riku frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well, we kissed on the boat, but we never got the chance to actually discuss what that meant.”

Riku smiled at Sora lovingly, placing his hand under the brunette’s chin and turning him to face him. “What do you think it means?” he whispered, as they stared into each others’ eyes.

Sora met Riku in the middle, lips firmly pressing against each other for a few seconds before they pulled away.

“I love you,” Riku whispered.

Sora hummed, a soft smile on his face. “I love you too,” he replied, turning to lean his head into Riku’s shoulder and closing his eyes as Riku pulled Sora closer. 

Not even a minute later, Sora had fallen asleep. Riku chuckled, looking at his friend—boyfriend? The conversation had never actually finished—and shaking his head fondly. Typical Sora.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, hope you enjoyed! I haven't written something this long in a while. 
> 
> Even though the characters discuss the future at the end, there are no plans for any continuation.


End file.
